First annual BZN International Film Festival kicks off June 7

Jeff Bridges among industry panelists

EBS STAFF

James Redford and Jeff Bridges are among the filmmakers attending and participating in the inaugural BZN International Film Festival in Bozeman from June 7–10. Featuring more than 70 films, panel discussions and events, the festival casts a spotlight on women in film and films aimed at raising environmental awareness. Venues include the Rialto, the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture’s Crawford Theater, the Ellen Theatre, the Willson Auditorium, and locations at Montana State University.

Redford’s “Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution” opens the festival on Thursday, June 7 with a 7:30 p.m. screening in the Emerson’s Crawford Theater. The following evening, also at the Crawford, director Susan Kucera and Jeff Bridges, producer and narrator of “Living in the Future’s Past,” will lead a Q&A following the film’s 8 p.m. screening.

Friday morning at Museum of the Rockies, Redford will join the architects of Love Schack to discuss sustainability in the West as it pertains to clean building, and the viability of clean energy in Bozeman.

“Adapting for the Screen,” is a discussion about the joys and challenges of translating a book into the medium of film with producers, writers and directors Carl Effenson, Devon Jersild and Mark Gordon. Other conversations will examine film-related topics such as sexuality and gender identity, familial relationships, local and global environmental efforts, and highlight Bozeman’s female entrepreneurs.

Festival-goers are also invited to participate in a Seed & Spark pitching seminar, and explore the nuances of filming in Montana. Montana films in the festival include “Bella Vista,” “Consexual,” “Montana Vets, Montana Waters,” “Willow Creek Road,” “Love Stuck,” “Red Ants Pants,” “We the Conquerers,” and “Tiny Homes: A Housing First Solution?”

Among the documentaries are “It’s Criminal,” a film about incarcerated woman working with Dartmouth College students, “Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise,” which takes a deep look at the truth of women’s experience in the world, and “Awakening in Taos,” the story of Mabel Dodge Luhan’s personal evolution as a writer, salon hostess, art patroness, and social activist.

“Big Booom” depicts the history of humanity and of our planet in four minutes of animation. “Edge of Alchemy” casts silent film stars Mary Pickford and Janet Gaynor in a surreal epic that upends the Frankenstein story with contemporary undercurrents about hive collapse; while “Men Talk About Mother” is an amusing but poignant look at processing difficult emotions.

Old Main Gallery & Framing will host artist receptions for Gallatin Peak Passholders on Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8 from 5-6 p.m., in celebration of artists Kevin Red Star and Louise Johns, respectively. Gallatin Peak Passholders are also invited to a quick finish event by Red Star on Friday from noon to 2 p.m.